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This was the moment a fight broke out at Villa Park as stewards struggled to regain control. The confrontation - which saw one man removed from the seating area by a steward - happened in a home area of the Doug Ellis Stand and was said to have followed a goal for visitors Celtic in Wednesday’s Champions League clash. Life-long Villa fan Ade Cartwright was feet away from where the melee broke out and recorded the scenes. The 55-year-old told added he saw one person “stomp” on a fan’s head on the floor. He said he feared young children sitting around him “might never want to go to a game again” after witnessing the violence. Ade, who lives in Worcester but is originally from Birmingham, claimed: “It started when Celtic scored their first goal. A Celtic fan, in the Doug Ellis Stand, stood up and cheered. “It wasn’t like he stood up and then thought, ‘oh s***, I had better sit down’, no, he was trying to antagonise Villa fans. He was with a friend and he knew what he was doing. “It was made aware to stewards and police before the game started that Celtic fans were in the home end. This could have easily been prevented.” Ade claimed he saw “one guy get his head kicked in” and another trying to “stomp on his head”. “One family that had been sat near me didn’t come back for the second half,” he said. “If you’ve got young impressionable kids, it make sense (to leave). Will they ever come to a football game again? It wouldn’t surprise me if they didn’t because it was disgusting”. West Midlands Police said it made 21 arrests “overall” with 19 of those Celtic fans. The arrests were on suspicion of a range of offences, including violent disorder, assaults, possession of Class-A drugs, throwing pyrotechnics onto the pitch and having fraudulent tickets. He added: “How were the Celtic fans able to get hold of tickets for the home end when tickets are so regulated? The stewards also took a while to break up the fight. The Celtic fans were obviously to blame for it starting, but then the way Villa fans acted afterwards was disgusting. Thoughts??
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